OWB"S & Dual Fuel Furnaces

[mtndream]

Was checking out this site the last few days gathering up info on various OWB's.

I looked at the few mentioned on site. Hawkin, Heatmor, Empyre, Woodmaster. Looked at the Yukon-Eagle indoor dual furnace also but only reviews I found are on their site. Anyone have one? Do they burn more wood than others?
While on the Woodmasters site I saw their flex fuel furnace? Has anyone put one of these in or know someone that did?


Here's a little bkgnd info
We built a new house (raised ranch) 5yrs ago on approx 11 acres of wooded land, so I purchased a Little House for the garage. Builder recommended a Heat pump for the house. HP works great as an air conditioner but for heating the house NSG, (I heat both levels) so I rigged up the little house temporarily for heating everything & now we're spoiled. In total our house/garage combo is just over 3000 sq ft. Well, the little house has seen it's last winter, the firebox is gone, their warranty stinks when you read the fine print but can't complain cause it wasn't that expensive & saved us $$ last 4 seasons.

Now it's just trying to figure out which way to go. My wife wants to have something that's easy for her to maintain & will last us for many yrs to come.
Any input on your experiences & expertise would be greatly appreciated.

 

[laynes69]

I would stay clear of a OWB because of whats going on there in PA. Personally I don't like the all in one units. If something goes wrong, then you can be down both. Having an add-on or a woodfurnace tied to the central furnace gives you the best of both worlds as far as efficiency goes. We have a EPA woodfurnace and a 90% LP furnace so things operate nicely. How many cords have you burned with the little house?

 

[mtndream]

OWB & Dual Furnaces

Probably 12 or more. Gone thru quite a bit this winter because of the firebox but I cut my own wood, using up a lot of downed trees from ice storms, dead wood laying around so haven't really kept track.

Thanks for the input, I will certainly look into doing something like what you have. I don't plan on doing anything till this spring or summer so I have plenty of time to plot & plan.

 

[laynes69]

Wow thats alot of wood. We have burned a little over 5 cords heating since October. Having good seasoned wood is key to a burning less and getting more heat. We heat a large old home with our furnace.

 

[mtndream]

Yeah it is but I'm using a lot of old dead wood laying around our property. It didn't't always burn that much but since the firebox is gone, I'm feeding it about 5 x a day, a real pain. Just trying to get through this winter, not crazy about installing something till it warms up. I was researching the one you have, which would mean installing a chimney since I have a heat pump right now. Of course I could put this in my garage & install the chimney there so it's certainly not out of the question but I would have to check out my insurance policy since most of them frown on indoor wood stoves. I did read about PA trying to ban OWB's which made me start researching other alternatives, such as dual, lol. I live on top a mtn with no close neighbors to growl about any type of outdoor burners so the hoopla really ticks me off.

 

[PAwoodchopper]

I would stay clear of a OWB because of whats going on there in PA.

And why do you say this comment ????

 

[laynes69]

I would be upset if I purchased something that exceeded 10,000 dollars and had to remove it due to strict regulations. The reality is they are cracking down and eventually they (Government) will get their way. There are OWB units that meet low emissions, but are very pricey. If he wanted to go with a boiler, then a gasification boiler would be the best route, but also expensive. I'm just saying I would choose carefully if looking at OWB's. Doing the homework would be the best bet.

 

[ericjeeper]

Yeah it is but I'm using a lot of old dead wood laying around our property. It didn't't always burn that much but since the firebox is gone, I'm feeding it about 5 x a day, a real pain. Just trying to get through this winter, not crazy about installing something till it warms up. I was researching the one you have, which would mean installing a chimney since I have a heat pump right now. Of course I could put this in my garage & install the chimney there so it's certainly not out of the question but I would have to check out my insurance policy since most of them frown on indoor wood stoves. I did read about PA trying to ban OWB's which made me start researching other alternatives, such as dual, lol. I live on top a mtn with no close neighbors to growl about any type of outdoor burners so the hoopla really ticks me off.

Insurance companies frown on woodfired appliances in the garage,. Now you can throw two walls and a door into the corner and make yourself a mechanical room.. It is no longer the garage is it?

 

[KansasTom]

Insurance companies frown on woodfired appliances in the garage,. Now you can throw two walls and a door into the corner and make yourself a mechanical room.. It is no longer the garage is it?

Does that really make a difference? Not trying to sound smart, I'm really curious about that since I want to go with an add-on wood furnace in the basement.

 

[steveb76]

Does that really make a difference? Not trying to sound smart, I'm really curious about that since I want to go with an add-on wood furnace in the basement.

x2, does it make a difference?

 

[gwiley]

My biggest reason for going with the OWB was to keep crap out of the house. My wife loves the fact that no dirt, bugs, muddy boots, etc. show up in the house as a result of wood heat. We talked about adding a wood stove as a backup (in case we loose electric and generator isn't working) but she just can't come to grips with having wood dragged through the house.

I also really like the fact that there is no smoke or indoor air pollution from the wood stove - all the combustion happens away from the house. This is a big deal - talk it over with your SO and make the decision carefully.

Although I burn a lot of wood in the OWB, there is nothing to compare with the hot water and forced air setup that we have - it is truly awesome.

 

[CrappieKeith]

...ok were to start....heating a 3000 s/f home takes about 200 gallons of #2 fuel oil or about 250-300 gallons of propane depending on the blend of propane to keep a house up to 72 degrees when it's about 0 outside give or take a few degrees.
Of course the home needs to be insulated and of course that changes when it gets colder or warmer.
I've always thought from what I see with our customers that a 3000 s/f home needs around 100-120 thousand btu's capability in that size home and that it normally takes about 1 cord of seasoned hardwood to offset the liquid fuel 100%.

With a Yukon Eagle I wood & oil or wood & gas it takes 1-3 loads a day. Since the firebox is only 18.5" by 24" a load is not that much wood. I tell our customers with 3000 s/f homes to put up 1 cord for every month they heat.
This should get you through a winter.

It really a great feature to have the gas light the wood and you'll only need 1 flue for venting.

The bio mass tax credit is a great thing too where you can take 1500$ as a tax credit .

 

[Butch(OH)]

We have been heating with a Woodmaster OWB for 4 years now and I would realy hate to go back to a stove in the house. I learn a bit each year about how to feed it and our wood usage is not out of line with people who use stoves to heat the entire house. Just the other day I posted that we are at 4.5 cords to heat our 1945 Cape Cod with so-so insulation to 75 and my 24x24 shop that is well insulated to 65. Our entire house is warm 24-7 and so is the shop and we heat our domestic water. There is a HUGE differance between heating a room or two 8-10 hrs a day and heating the entire home plus a shop plus domestic 24-7. I say all this not to knock stoves or people who use them but make sure you are comparing apples to apples when people talk about wood usage. An OWB will use more wood to do that same work if for no other reason they all loose heat to the outside. Sure mine will keep snow on the roof but you could keep a cup of coffee warm by the loading door. What am I saying with all this ramble??
1. To do the same work as a stove a properly insatlled OWB will use a bit more wood.
2. To do what most ask of a properly installed OWB it will use a LOT more wood compared to a stove heating a room or 2.
3. An improperly installed OWB will burn semi loads of wood doing nothing but keeping the ground thawed between it and the house.
This is of course my opinionated (slightly) opinion

The questions I asked myself and you should ask are
1. What is the evil empire going to do with OWBs? (EPA)
2. Are you willing to maintain a fire 24-7 for the entire heating season as required by an OWB? If not go with a stove.
3. Are you willing to prepare the extra wood you will burn? If not go with a stove.
4. Does your life and wife demand that the house ALLWAYS be dust and smoke free like mine? Then stay away from a stove.
5 Do you want the entire house warm or are you willing to put up with hot and cold areas?
6 My insurance guy said no matter what, a wood stove in the house would have raised rates, my OWB only raised my rates a little bit because it means they are insuring more dollars worth of property

 

[gwiley]

Butch makes some really good points:

1. Although an OWB uses more wood, it does more work (heats entire house plus hot water).

2. You DO need to be committed to 24/7 fire, reheating the cooled water jacket burns a lot of wood. I find that by adjusting the t-stat to 50degF when we are out of town I can have a friend (my dad) add wood once every 36-48 hours.

 

[applefarmer]

Along with the previous good and accurate points are some wood considerations. I am going to end up this season using 7 cord in my owb. I heat my 2800 sq ft house and dhw. Make no mistake that is alot of wood but the time it takes me to prepare it for the owb is minimal. I do not have to split my wood and I get the lengths as close to 3 feet as possible. It takes me 2 weekends to cut and stack my wood for the season. This winter has been easy with little snow so I have been cutting on and off when I feel like it. I have my wood for next year cut and stacked and by May I hope to be ahead by three years.

For comparison my dad has a yukon fuel oil/ wood combo. It has been a great furnace, he bought it in the 70's and we just recently replaced the fire box, and stainless hx. Yukon is a great company to deal with, the fact you can still get parts for a 30 year old furnace says something. He uses 4.5 -5 cord to heat for the season in a 2000 sq ft house. I can tell you for a fact it takes longer to process wood for him than it does for me even though I use more. There are pros and cons to both setups, but for me the saftey and dirt issue kept me outside.

 

[indiansprings]

As we are in the firewood business and don't personally burn wood I can only go by the amount of wood our customers buy. In a house of roughly the same dimensions I see the modern late stoves like quadra fire or pacific energy being the most efficent based on the amount of wood use.
The indoor long wood style furnaces would be second with the OWB's by far using the most wood. I will burn wood next year and plan on using a either a quadra fire or pe stove to supplement heating on propane. I currently heat around 5300 sq feet on about 1200 gals on propane a year including cooking appliances, with wood I think I can reduce this to around 500 gals a year.

 

[mtndream]

CrappieKeith,

Is the Yukon-Eagle furnace considered a wood stove? I have Erie Insurance & they won't insure any house if there is an indoor wood stove.

 

[CrappieKeith]

CrappieKeith,

Is the Yukon-Eagle furnace considered a wood stove? I have Erie Insurance & they won't insure any house if there is an indoor wood stove.

No...they are UL listed as a multifuel wood oil or wood gas furnace.
Underwritters Labratory File# MH11057